of Dwarves and Elves
by Kabashka
Summary: A look at the friendship of Gimli and Legolas, two unique "plants" of Middle-Earth.


Of Dwarves and Elves  
  
Disclaimer: I own the Lord of the Rings. Hehe, wait, nevermined.  
Don't sue! I'm insanely poor. This fic is to my two best friends, J + J!!  
  
~~~~  
  
The dwarf and the elf. How strange indeed.  
  
It was a surprise to those who caught glances and glimpses. It was a well- known fact that dwarves and elves did not get along.  
  
'Wait,' thought the elf, 'that was an understatement!'  
  
Elves and dwarves are quarreling children. No matter how many times you plead them silent, mediate as a friend in between, hand them a hearty meal, or attempt unto them a black eye, they will not stop yanking one another's throats. Oh yes, they were like that at one point in the beginning of their long tale of adventure, yet more mature about it (for they were in company of a brave ring-bearer and a man of kingly blood). After a few events of terror and sweat, they were inseparable.  
  
The elf, Legolas Greenleaf, was perching himself quite elegantly atop a few dead branches, high in the air, by an old tree that seemed to him, must have taken a good weather beating. His long, slender hand shaded his keen eyes as he peered through the misty air that rolled over the misty mountains into the lush Fangorn forest, which he and his dear friend were passing through. The wind whipped his hair against his fair elven face, and he sighed. If he was right, they were awfully close to the fountain of Nimrodel, thus, as well as Lorien.  
  
"Hurry, Elf! Are you supposed to be swift or no?" Came the deep, almost growling yell of Gimli, the dwarf.  
  
Legolas slid easily through the branches in a cat-like manner, smiling at his friend's impatience. "You know, why don't you set your stout self above with the birds?"  
  
"Ha!" Gimli let out a bark of laughter. "Ridiculous! I'll keep my feet and boots with dirt and stone if you don't mind." The dwarf made emphasis on his words as he stomped his foot into the ground. As Legolas landed and looked to the sky for a second of a glimpse, Gimli seemed to have caught a strange glimmer in his eye. "Did you see something troubling?"  
  
Legolas shook his head. "No. I saw not but the beauty of the land that is safe, but I heard a cry in the far distance. It was not human, nor elf, dwarf, or half-ling. It was no terrible beast either."  
  
"You may name off every living creature in Middle-Earth save what you heard, so speak up!"  
  
"I believe," Legolas closed his eyes with a short sigh, "I believe it was the cry of the gull again."  
  
Gimli remembered what to do in situations like this. It wasn't the first time, either. He had always made threats and shouts at Legolas for having heard the gulls and gaining a desire to leave Middle-Earth, so how else was he to set the elf straight? Still though, the longing inside his friend's heart was growing stronger and stronger every passing day.  
  
"Legolas Greenleaf, Long under tree  
  
In joy thou hast lived, Beware of the sea!  
  
If thou hearest the cry of the gull on the shore  
  
Then thy heart shall then rest in the forest no more."  
  
Galadriel's message was still imprinted upon his mind. It frightened his heart to think his friend will someday leave the land they both love. The sun would rise, and the birds would sing.  
  
Damn birds. The only good sound they ever made was when Samwise Gamgee had them on a hot pan over a hot fire.  
  
Legolas involuntarily found himself gazing towards the west. It was quickly blocked soon, for he found himself gazing more closely at Gimli's fist, shaking hard at him. He took a step back, head cocked to one side.  
  
"You see this gloved hand here, elf?" Gimli growled in his throat and through his mass of a beard. "Your face should be smashed against it if you even think about thinking of sailing off to some other-land!" He planted his feet in the ground again as Legolas drew up an eyebrow. "We're plants, I hate to say it."  
  
Now the dwarf has truly lost it.  
  
"I do hope I am not green, for I would have thought myself a different color this very morning." Legolas said in an amused and sarcastic tone.  
  
"Stop acting daft!" Gimli said with his usual rough voice. "I mean we grew here, in this land of Middle-Earth. Am I wrong?"  
  
"No, you are quite right."  
  
"Must the flowers and brush leave?"  
  
Legolas knew what he was trying to get at, and he thought it amusing, and in a way, entertaining as Gimli tried to find some sort of analogy and point to keep him from the shores. He kept himself from laughing a bit. No one claimed that dwarves were huge fans of poetry anyway.  
  
"A flower may be plucked, and every leaf must blow away, my friend."  
  
'Damn the elf.' Gimli thought.  
  
"Gimli, do not worry. I'm not planning on leaving anytime soon, no matter how loud the gulls become. Our adventures are not over yet!" His eyes glittered in the sunlight, not a longing, but more of an excitement to see more. To explore the rest of Middle-Earth. Gimli understood him. Legolas wanted to live for the moment, to cherish the time he had, so Gimli was to help him. They were friends after all.  
  
"We have a lot of freinds to visit, don't we, elf?" He said, more as a statement than a question.  
  
"I hear the hobbits are having a feast in the shire in the few coming of moons."  
  
"Ah! I miss Sam's hobbit meals! To the shire then, Master elf?"  
  
"To the Shire, Master dwarf!"  
  
As they strolled down the path, talking of days past, neither one of them, for once, noticed the faint sound of a gull in the west.  
  
The end. 


End file.
